Residents and employees wailed as explosions tore apart several floors of a major skyscraper in the centre of Moscow today – in an attack which Russian officials blamed on Ukraine
Drones attacked Moscow elite office and residential skyscraper district early today causing damage to at least two buildings.
Screams were heard as explosions ripped apart the several floors of a major building. The suspected Ukrainian attack inflicted the kind of terror on Moscow that Vladimir Putin’s armed forces have imposed on Kyiv and other Ukrainians cities during the war.
The first of two drones penetrating the Russian capital’s much-vaunted air defences struck at 3:20am. It hit the 50-storey IQ Quarter Tower, part of a business district called Moscow City that also includes elite residential apartments and penthouses.
A second drone struck at the business centre Oko-2 at 4:10am. Footage showed the impact of one of the drones. The Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the facades of two buildings were “slightly damaged” but the strikes appeared more serious.
The Russian defence ministry claimed the drones striking the skyscrapers had lost control after being jammed by electronic warfare technology. There was no confirmation that this was accurate. There was a report of two casualties with injuries – a security guard and a 21 -year old woman – but multiple ambulances were at the scene.
The attack reached the heart of Moscow, close to the White House headquarters of the Russian government. One of the buildings struck by the drones houses the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Dmitry Medvedev – former Russian president who is now Vladimir Putin’s deputy on the powerful Russian security council – warned: “Our Armed Forces, repelling the counteroffensive of the collective enemy, protect the citizens of Russia and our land. This is obvious to all decent people. But beyond that, they prevent world conflict.
“After all, if we imagine that the offensive of the [Ukrainians] with the support of NATO was successful, and they seized part of our land, then we would have to, by virtue of the rules of the decree of the President of Russia dated 06/02/2020, go for the use of nuclear weapons.
“There is simply no other way out. Therefore, our enemies must pray to our warriors. They do not allow the global nuclear fire to flare up.”
The office of the Ministry of Digital Development, Telecommunications and Mass Media is also based here, part of Putin’s propaganda edifice. Government documentation from the ministries was strewn in the street after the attack.
The attacks came the same day as Russia’s Navy Day parade, which went ahead in St Petersburg and Kronstadt as Putin was joined by leaders of a number of African nations marking a Russia-Africa summit. One video highlights the voices of two women seeing an incoming drone.
“There it is flying,” says one. “It flies so quick.”
Another video has two more women on Presnenskaya Embankment, one saying: “I told you…” One screams: “Ah! Mamochka! [Mummy…] “Right next to us a drone hit a building. “I filmed it.”
Guests at a Novotel hotel at Moscow City were panicked by the attack. Another shows a woman in bed as the drone attack is seen from her high-rise window. Flights were temporarily halted at major Moscow international airport Vnukovo, used by Putin and members of the Russian government, due to the drone strikes.
A source said: ”Vnukovo airport is closed for arrivals and departures. “Flights are being redirected to other airports. One flight is in the waiting area.” Later the airport was reopened. Air defences were working in the Odintsovo district.
There were also reports of an intense drone attack on annexed Crimea. The Russian Defence Ministry said: “On the morning of July 30, an attempt of a terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime with unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the city of Moscow was suppressed.
“One Ukrainian UAV was destroyed in the air by air defence over the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region. “Two more drones were suppressed by electronic warfare and, having lost control, crashed on the territory of the Moscow City non-residential building complex.”
It was portrayed as an “attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime”. There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainians. Moscow routinely downplays attacks by Ukraine in an attempt not to alarm people.
A source said: “The glazing was shattered as a result of the blast at the level of fifth and sixth floors of the 50-story building on Presnenskaya embankment.” TASS reported: “There are no casualties and no fire has started.
“The people are being evacuated. Operational services and law enforcement agencies arrived on the scene. “Law enforcement agencies reported that the Air Defence Troops repelled an attack by two aircraft-type drones in the west of Moscow Region.
“In addition, eyewitnesses report the sounds of an explosion in the west of Moscow.” In Crimea, the defence ministry claimed that 25 drones had been repelled. The defence ministry said: “Tonight an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by twenty-five aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles on facilities on the territory of the Crimean peninsula has been foiled. “Sixteen Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed by air defence fire.
“Another nine Ukrainian drones were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed in the waters of the Black Sea and Cape Tarkhankut without reaching their target. There were no casualties or damage as a result of the foiled terrorist attack.”
